How old are your applicances...

big5

My parents tumble dryer is nearly 40 years old.

My oldest appliance is my hairdryer which must be 19 or 20 years old now. Not as powerful as it used to be, but still does the job.

Deep_In_Debt

My kitchen white goods are only a couple of years old but only because I had a new kitchen installed then. Up until that point, my washing machine was 19 years old and still going strong, my cooker was about the same age too. Fridge freezer was about 10 years old and had packed up 2 weeks before having my kitchen done. I rarely use a microwave and my old one was 15 years old and worked perfectly, just looked a bit tatty in the new kitchen.

Much of my furniture is second hand and purchased when I bought my house over 20 odd years ago - still in good nick and still going strong.

Only replaced my 14 year old TV last year because it broke and it would have cost more to have it repaired than buying a new one. I'd really love my old TV back, better picture quality and better quality all round.

SingleSue

Fridge freezer less than a year old
Cooker less than a year old
Tumble dryer 20 years old, had a broken door for about the last 17 years but it still works well with the paint mate holding it closed.
Washing machine about 4 years old
Bed around 16 or 17 years old, lovely pine four poster.

Bedroom wardrobes, coming up for 100 years old, they were ex husband's grandparent's wardrobes given to them as a wedding present back in the early 20's. They are plain and functional and not what I would choose but I just can't bring myself to change them.

Iron is about 15 or more years old, only used it a couple of times in the last 10 years.

Microwave is goodness knows how old, we have had it for 18 years and it was second hand when we got it.

Sofa, had it for 2 years but it was second hand, it's probably more than 10 years as it is a pretty old fashioned style that I haven't seen in shops for ages.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Washing Machine & Dishwasher about 11/12 years. Fridge and Freezer about 8. TV about 8. Bed & wardrobe about 15, drawers about 8, dressing table about 80, banjos and mandolin about 75, guitars around 25-30, sofa about 5, kettle & toaster 3, microwave 1. Tumble drier about 6 (and subject to a safety recall ). Liquidiser about 8, stick blender 1 month.

I only replace things when they go bang - and generally after trying to manage without them for 2 months. The dishwasher was the exception to this - I lasted 3 days after the 30-odd year old one went pouffff, just long enough for the repairman who fixed it the last time to say he couldn't do it again. I lasted longer without a kettle, mainly because I had a camping one stuffed in the cupboard.


Recently, I've chucked out (and don't intend to replace) a mini fryer because it decided to leak even though I couldn't see a single crack in it, a stick blender that was about 10 years old because it started to smoke and the microwave because it went bang. The liquidiser is probably going to be the next thing to go, as it smells funny when using it, but I'll wait and save up for a fancier one this time.

Most of the saucepans and the frying pans are about 18 years old. The frying pans are so battered, they're more elliptoid than circular, so I'm keeping my eyes out for a good bargain there. I think the pans cost me about a tenner. My hairdryer was a freebie travel one from a hairdresser around 14 years ago - its main purpose is to defrost the freezer.

The crockery is mostly about 6 years old (house moving, idiot ex decided to chuck the box marked crockery onto the floor), but there are a couple of casserole dishes, a saucer and the butter dish that are around 50 years old.


I far prefer older stuff - the dressing table is practically bomb proof and the newer things just aren't good quality - even the solid wood wardrobe is nowhere near as good as the old one my ex decided had to go because it was 'old fashioned' - that came from the 1940s. I bet it's still in use - wish it was me using it.

Mrs_Ryan

Everything is fairly new- washing machine I think is about five years old, tumble dryer is a couple of years old, fridge freezer is only a year old, microwave was just a cheapie from Tesco but it's lasted well, I think about two or three years. Kettle is just months old but OH has broke it so he's getting another the toaster is I think only a couple of months old, TV is 4 years old now, my laptop is two years old, OH's phone is ancient- it was mine before his, must be at least six maybe seven years old. Car is 4 years old but we've only had it a year. Bed is a year old, previous bed we had to get rid of as it wasn't helping my back pain, OH tells me it was seventeen years old.
The sofa and OH's PS2 must be the oldest things we have still in use- the PS2 used to belong to my best friend's husband and she tells me he had it when it was first out so its around fifteen years old. OH bought it for twenty quid off him and uses it regularly- he had his own PS2 previously but it broke, he has a PS3 but doesn't like it! The sofa, says OH is also from when he moved in so its twenty years old.
We're about to have the kitchen done so the microwave and kettle are getting replaced but the white goods are all ok so they will remain.

Elsewhere

My Kenwood Chef finally gave up last year after about 30 years - the smoke and nasty burning smell was a bit of a giveaway. Surprisingly its accessories (mincer etc) fit my new one! Thank you, Kenwood!

One traditional sofa was bought new by my mother in 1964. It's on its third set of upholstery. Our other sofas/easy chairs we bought in the 70s - they haven't worn out but we have - DH and I find it VERY hard to get up from them now.. Considering the amount of use (and our kids used them as trampolines, built forts with them etc) and the fact that there is no frame, they are just made out of layers of different density foams, they have been amazing.

Ours are a boring tweedy brown, not red like this; the style is still being manufactured!

Person_one

My kitchen appliances are all brand new at the moment, some not actually used yet. I've only ever had second hand or inherited built-in ones before so I'm actually a bit nervous about using these extremely clean and shiny things for the very first time! Pathetic, I know.

The oldest thing in my house is probably my TV, nearly 9 years old, bought with my first proper paycheque after graduating. I'll probably keep that until it dies, hopefully another 9 years at least!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Person_one wrote: »

My kitchen appliances are all brand new at the moment, some not actually used yet. I've only ever had second hand or inherited built-in ones before so I'm actually a bit nervous about using these extremely clean and shiny things for the very first time! Pathetic, I know.

The oldest thing in my house is probably my TV, nearly 9 years old, bought with my first proper paycheque after graduating. I'll probably keep that until it dies, hopefully another 9 years at least!

Not in the slightest - when I got new things for the first time that I'd chosen and paid for myself, I was worried about scratching, damaging or getting them dirty - I even used to use a cocktail stick to make sure every last scrap of grime in the joins was removed. And, as for the brand new decorated bathroom upstairs - well, I didn't want to use it, so kept on using the one downstairs instead for a good couple of weeks.

You wouldn't think it to look at the place now.

Lily-Rose_3

Primrose wrote: »

Car 16 years old
Freezer 30+ years old.
Other appliances repaired as needed and only scrapped when beyond repair and parts no longer available.

I hate this waste of resources. As long as something still works in our house, it stays. I kept my Nokia "brick" mobile phone for 15 years before I finally had to replace it. I have to say, its battery lasted a darned sight longer than the one in its replacement before it needed recharging.

Every piece of kitchen equipment I've ever bought has always ended up being less robust and less sturdy than its predecessor. Sadly there is no profit in manufacturers making things to last these days.

This ^ x 100!

Me and my husband had electrical items that lasted 20 years before they broke down, and a few we replaced because they were looking shabby, but they were still actually working!

We replaced quite a few electrical items them 5-10 years ago, and each one has lasted no more than 3-6 years before packing up.

A good example also is a boiler. We were in a house once that had a boiler that had been in since it was built in 1971 (this was early 1990s,) and when we left the house 3 or 4 years later, it was still there.

Then the next house we had, we lived in for 12 years, and the boiler had been in for 25 years. 3 or 4 years after we moved in, it was popping and crackling and we were told it needed replacing. (It wasn't broken and even to this day I believe the issue could have been fixed.)

So anyway, we replaced the boiler (£2.5k!) and within 3 or 4 years, it started to pack up! We were told this and that needed replacing, the heat exchange and so on, and that we needed a £700 system flush!

As you said, nothing lasts for long these days.

catkins

When we first got married we got given a secondhand washing machine which was about 7 years old. It lasted us 10 years. Since then I have lost count of how many washing machines we have had - talking a period of 26 years. I think we are on machine number 7.

We seem to have no luck with appliances lasting whether we buy cheap or spend more. We have been in the house we are in for 11 years and in that time we have had 3 dishwashers - the existing one caught fire about 6 months ago and has not been replaced, 3 ovens, 2 hobs, 3 washing machines, 3 microwaves, 2 tumble dryers, 3 fridge freezers, at least 5 kettles and about the same number of toasters. Hoovers I have lost count of - at least 8.

I just think nothing is made to last any more. Most of my friends have the same problem with appliances.

I certainly do not ever think of buying new if the existing one is ok. Our bed is 17 years old - a lovely antique pine one (mattress is 12 years old so we really need to get a new one), our dining table and chairs we have had 10 years and they were secondhand (oak). Most of our furniture is secondhand - wardrobes, chests of drawers, stereo, sideboard. We recently replaced our settees but, again, got secondhand.
The previous ones we had around 9 years and they were secondhand when we got them